William Porter, son of the late John and Lizzie Mae Porter, went to be with the Lord on Friday, August 24, 2018.

Known to family as "Bill" and to friends as "Porter," he was born on November 3, 1941, the second oldest of eight children. He attended local schools and spent two years at Albany State College, when the civil rights struggle drew him into voter registration efforts. A participant in the 1961 Albany Movement to desegregate public facilities, he left school in 1962 to devote his energies to become a soldier in the cause of freedom. He became Southern Christian Leadership Conference's (SCLC) coordinator of Citizenship Schools in the area to teach people how to pass the literacy tests on their knowledge of the U.S. Constitution in order to vote.

He joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) (known familiarly as "Snick"), 1962—1967, serving under Chairmen Charles McDew and John Lewis as chief file clerk; project director in Gadsden and Birmingham, Alabama; southern fundraiser; campus coordinator; scholarship coordinator; conference coordinator; assistant director of the research library; and Atlanta Office manager.

Some of the documents he created and accumulated are known as the "William Porter Papers," part of the SNCC Archives at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia.

Later, while obtaining his B.S. degree in Business from the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Bill met the love of his life, Violet Brodie, and married her, stating in the wedding ceremony that he was also, in effect, marrying her two children, Eileen and Anthony, to show his unconditional fatherly love for them. Bill yearned to be a minister and gave his first sermon at Bethel AME Church in Iowa City.

The family moved to Washington, DC, where Bill and Violet were blessed with a son, William Robin Porter. Bill was a correctional officer in the juvenile detention system, and lived in Maryland before moving to Henry County, Georgia in 2008.

Possessing a gentle demeanor with a steadfast determination to do whatever he set out to do, Bill was known for his love of "throwing down" in the kitchen with his down-home culinary skills.

In addition to his parents, Bill was preceded in death by two brothers, John Jr. and Dan.

He leaves to cherish his memory his wife, Violet Porter of McDonough, GA; a daughter, Eileen Leona Brodie of the Atlanta, GA area; two sons, Anthony Mason of McDonough and William Robin Porter of Maryland; eight grandchildren, Matthew, Marquis and Brittani Brodie, Martha, Mary and Charleen Massey, and Abigail and Alice Porter; one great-grandchild, Kameron Moore; a brother, Charlie Porter of Virginia; four sisters, Thelma Sawyer of New Iberia, LA, Dorothy Jackson, Viola Wallace and Leola Williams all of Albany; two uncles, Sam Carter, Jr. and Jessie Carter both of Albany; and several nieces, nephews, cousins, other relatives and friends.